The present invention relates to an inkjet printing system and method of maintenance. More particularly, the present invention relates to an inkjet printhead apparatus having a disposable integrated printhead and wiper cleaning station and method of wiping the printhead with a clean wiper for reliable printing operations.
A typical inkjet printing device generally include a traveling carriage unit for supporting one or more printheads in a desired orientation relative to a ink receiving surface. In this regard, as the carriage unit travels along a rectilinear path of travel adjacent to the ink-receiving surface, the printheads eject ink onto the ink-receiving surface to form desired indicia.
Such printheads typically have an orifice plate with a plurality of small nozzles for ejecting the ink toward the ink-receiving surface. Because of residue build up on and around these small nozzles or opening, many inkjet printing devices include a service station module that caps, wipes and catches spit ink droplets that facilitates keeping the printhead clean. A necessary operation in servicing such a printhead is to make certain that the wiper utilized to remove such residue is also cleaned periodically.
A prior solution for cleaning such a wiper included providing a wiper cleaning station within the service station module. In this regard, not only is a wiper cleaning station required but also special wiper cleaning fluids are necessary to clean the wiper. Thus, while such wiper cleaning stations are satisfactory for their intended purpose, the wiper cleaning station parts are nevertheless expected to last for the life of the printing device and add to the cost of operating the printer because of the special cleaning fluids that must be provided.
Therefore it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved inkjet printing device that does not require a wiper cleaning station that is expected to last the life of the printing device nor that requires any special cleaning fluids.
The present invention provides a disposable printhead cartridge including a cartridge body having a generally box-like shape with an integrally formed cleaning station that includes a raised front face portion.
The front face portion provides at least a pair of printhead wiper surfaces for engaging a wiper. A printhead and a pair of debris accumulating channels are sandwiched between the pair of printhead wiper surfaces such that the wiper engages the printhead to remove printhead debris that is deposited in the debris accumulating channels. When the printhead cartridge is exhausted of a supply of ink the cartridge and its integrally formed cleaning station is replaced with a new cartridge.